11/7 Featured Games

Hello everyone!

This past Friday we had a great time on Halloween playing some spooky themed games.  We played Dead of Winter, Fearful Floors, Werewolf, and Shadow Hunters - as well as some other not so spooky games like Splendor and The Resistance: Avalon.  We had a great time and are excited that this upcoming Friday on November 7 we will be having our next event.

What are the featured games of this upcoming session?  They are games based on Movies, TV shows and/or Books!

Now, a lot of games could fit this genre and most of them are bad.  Thankfully in the era of modern board games we have a plethora of great games that use popular licenses whereas not too long ago this would have been a series of "Star Wars Trivial Pursuit" and "Lord of the Rings Monopoly."  While I'm sure there are folks who love those kinds of games (and there's nothing wrong with that), this upcoming Friday we'll be playing some with a bit more substance.

Sooooo let's see what they are!

Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island


I think we've featured this game at least two or three times thus far and are yet to actually get a game of it in. I'm hoping that changes as this is one of the best cooperatives games available.  It is based on the theme of surviving on a stranded island and features scenarios that are taken from Robinson Crusoe as well as the Swiss Family Robinson.  I haven't read either book so I'm not sure how similar the game is to the books, but the game itself is one of my favorites.  It is moderately complex and is a very challenging game - a group of newbies will probably lose their first game.  Seriously, if you haven't played this yet - you should.

War of the Ring/The Battle of Five Armies

I couldn't have this theme and not feature my favorite game and its new cousin.  War of the Ring has been out for some time and is based off of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (to be clear, the books - NOT the movies).  It is beautiful and very much captures the essence of those novels - which is a great deal of why I love it.  It is not a game that is looking to make a few extra bucks by slapping a picture of Orlando Bloom on the cover - it is made by people who love Tolkien's work and put it into game form.  Recently Ares Games released a new game in the same design called The Battle of Five Armies, which recreates the final conflict in The Hobbit.  I got this on release but haven't played it yet - the goal is to know it for Friday.  Battle of Five Armies is strictly 2-player and War of the Ring is best with 2 but can technically hold 4.  Again, I'd love to teach this to some folks!

A Game of Thrones: 2nd Edition

Obviously, this game is based on novels by George R.R. Martin in his A Song of Fire and Ice.  I have not read the books and know little about the HBO series so a lot of the theme as it relates to the book is lost on me, however this game is very highly regarded.  I just received it in a trade and haven't played it myself to give a genuine opinion, but it looks awesome - it is all about political maneuvering matched with strategic wits.  Back-stabbing? Check.  Armies? Check.  It has gorgeous components and the map looks great.  This should be a lot of fun, especially if we can get the full 6 people to play.

Battlestar Galactica

Again, we've featured this before at FND and I think it is probably one of our group's favorites - it's certainly one of mine.  Now in our collection we have both the Pegasus Expansion and the Exodus Expansion.  If we play this I am hoping we will do so with 5-6 players as well as a variant ending - whether it be using the New Caprica variant found in the Exodus expansion or the Ionian Nebula variant found in the exodus expansion.  If you haven't played it before, in my opinion this game is still the quintessential
semi-cooperative game.  Everyone's on a team - except the hidden Cylon traitor.  This game perfectly captures the spirit of the television show and couples it with very strong mechanics.

Star Wars: X-Wing

And finally we have our only one actually based off a specific movie and not a book that goes with it - Star Wars: X-Wing.  Now, in a few months we will probably have a specific Star Wars day when Star Wars: Imperial Assault and Star Wars: Armada get released because they both look amazing and I simply cannot resist the temptation to give Fantasy Flight more of my money.  X-Wing is currently out with many many expansions.  It's technically two players but one can play with more by splitting up ships in each fleet.  This is a tactical minis game where players control different ships from the Star Wars universe.  I have the base game (with an x-wing and two ties), the tie bomber, a-wing, and Millenium Falcon expansions.  This allows for a pretty fun mashing of ships and some cool scenarios.

Given the theme of the week it's not surprising to find a lot of "Amerithrash" styled games in the lineup.  If that's not your cup of tea we'll have the normal library out and available as well.

We at FND are hoping to see everyone out to play these awesome games!  Bring some friends and we'll see you Friday!